DPRK launches projectiles again
Authorities in ROK, Japan vow to probe event; fourth incident reported this year
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea fired two unidentified projectiles into the ocean off its east coast on Sunday, Joint Chiefs of Staff of the Republic of Korea said, as Japan’s Ministry of Defense pledged to look into the launches.
The JCS said in a statement that the projectiles, believed to be shortrange ballistic missiles, were launched near the DPRK’s eastern coastal town of Wonsan toward the East Sea, also known as Sea of Japan, at about 6:10 am local time.
The projectiles flew about 230 km at an altitude of around 30 km. The ROK and the United States are doing a precision analysis on the launches, the JCS said.
“Such military action by North Korea (the DPRK) is an extremely inappropriate act when the entire world is having difficulties due to the COVID-19 outbreak,” the JCS added.
The test was the DPRK’s fourth this year. The last test-firing incident was on March 21, with a string of weapons drills. And it came as a prolonged hiatus in disarmament talks with the United States drags on.
The JCS urged the DPRK to immediately stop such military acts calling them inappropriate, and adding that the South Korean military was maintaining a defensive posture while closely monitoring the situation. Japanese Defense Minister Taro Kono said Japan is looking into the launches, adding that the objects are believed to have fallen outside Japan’s territory and its exclusive economic zone.
“Pyongyang is challenging the international community at a rapid pace,” Kono said.
DPRK has yet to issue a statement on Sunday’s launches but attributed the three others this month, all of which landed in the Sea of Japan to “long-range artillery” drills.
After the launches last week, DPRK’s media announced that Kim Jong-un had received a letter from US President Donald Trump detailing a plan to develop ties − a move later confirmed by the White House.
The report cited Kim’s sister Kim Yo-jong, who warned that the apparently good personal relationship between the two leaders would not be enough to foster broader relations.
Trump “explained his plan to propel the relations between the two countries... and expressed his intent to render cooperation in anti-epidemic work,” she said in a statement published by the Korean Central News Agency.
Yu Qiang, a researcher of Japan studies at the University of International Relations in Beijing said negotiations between the DPRK and the US have since been deadlocked over sanctions relief, despite a KimTrump meeting in the Demilitarized Zone that divides the Korean peninsula in June 2019.
“Pyongyang failed to see Washington offering fresh concessions in the negotiations and thus Kim declared his country no longer considered itself bound by moratoriums on nuclear and intercontinental ballistic missile tests,” Yu said.